Making the XV-02 wider

[Andreas W]

I am so slowly starting to think about getting life into the 2nd hand XV-02 I got. Ihave bought a Bittydesign Skoda Fabia body for it. This is wida as in Killerbody manner and I don't think I can live with the winter rally spikes looks all year around. Ihave a few TG-10 9mm hexes spare now. Would the WR-02 universals 54394 do the job? Are they long enough to fit the 9mm hexes?

 

I am prepared to make a hybrid using the WR-02 axles together with the XV-02 swing shafts. 

[Pylon80]

18 minutes ago, Andreas W said:

I am so slowly starting to think about getting life into the 2nd hand XV-02 I got. Ihave bought a Bittydesign Skoda Fabia body for it. This is wida as in Killerbody manner and I don't think I can live with the winter rally spikes looks all year around. Ihave a few TG-10 9mm hexes spare now. Would the WR-02 universals 54394 do the job? Are they long enough to fit the 9mm hexes?

 

I am prepared to make a hybrid using the WR-02 axles together with the XV-02 swing shafts. 

The WR-02 will take 10mm hexes. I can take accurate measurements if you need, but basically consider them as wide as TG10's.

Do not rule out dog bones at the back/universal at the front. There's a lot of goodness in dog bones (less/easier cleaning, less interaction with suspension movement etc). You could go with TG10's at the back and WR-02 long universals at the front. Then pick and choose your swing shafts as required, 37 or 39. Hopefully the rear will be happy with 39 since the next shorter dog bones are an obscure TXT part measuring 35, probably too short.

But the best approach for the money is still to get your hands on HPI +6mm offset wheel. They are a great fit on Rally Blocks too, no glue required at least on 17.5 power. Just another option, assuming you do not want to run 24mm TC tires of course.

Keep us posted! 🍿

[Andreas W]

Thanks for the answer and useful inputs. I have already downgraded the winter XV-01 to dogbones rear (with TG-10 axles). I have nothing against dogbones at the rear, exactly because of easier maintainence. After all these are cars that are gonna run in snow, dirt and grime all their lifetime. 

 

I have a set of TG-10 axles spare as well, si then only need to source the matching dogbones for the rear. And the WR-02 universals at the front. That will gain good 5mm, which would improve the looks drastically. 

 

A tip regarding wheels. JC Racing has rally wheels in 5 mm offset in more designs and some of them in multiple colors. Way easier to source than the from time to time rocking horse poo-like HPI wheels. I have so many sets of Tamiya Rally dish wheels now,  so I'm gonna run them fir now. 

 

I'll not keep anything secret for you 

[Pylon80]

53 minutes ago, Andreas W said:

from time to time rocking horse poo

I didn't know this idiom, I'm laughing. I'll reuse it for sure. In a certain province of a certain country I used to live in, people used to say "rare as Pope's poo". I reckon rocking horse poo is more rare still 🧐

[Andreas W]

18 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

I didn't know this idiom, I'm laughing. I'll reuse it for sure. In a certain province of a certain country I used to live in, people used to say "rare as Pope's poo". I reckon rocking horse poo is more rare still 🧐

It's not that common here either. It's mostly a semi old guy thing.

 

Now parts are ordered and I'll find out more later. 

[Honza]

You'll need a 1mm spacer to fit GF-01/TG10 axles - they are slightly longer. Also GF universals have crosspin further away from the inner bearing, so you might end up with stock driveshafts being too long.

Unfortunely Tamiya decided to mess up the suspension mount system on XV-02, so it cannot use on road mounts, like XV-01 could. But adjustable XH/XB mounts can add ~3mm of width at widest setting.

 

[Andreas W]

I found that out yesterday. First I tested the XV-01 universals and found out that the crosspin comes further out, as you say. I also saw that the 38mm driveshaft from the XV-01 would be too long,  but hope it would be better if I replace the inner bearing with a 3mm thick one (like we do on the XV-01).

 

Here is a comparason of the axles.  From L to R TG-10,  XV-01 and XV-02. 

[Honza]

27 minutes ago, Andreas W said:

First I tested the XV-01 universals and found out that the crosspin comes further out, as you say.

XV-01 has 2mm longer axle on the rear, the front is same as XV-02. You could probably use that aswell to widen it, if 2mm per side was enough.

What I meant in the case of gf-01/ tg 10 is, that the universal cup itself is wider - here's comparison of M-05 and M-07 driveshaft, which use the same axles as GF-01 and XV-02 respectively. The M-07 swing shaft is 3mm longer, but the overall length is the same. Your solution with 3mm 1050 bearing might work, that would reduce the difference to around 1mm.

[Andreas W]

Aha. Now I see. Thanks for making it clear. Then it's just to wait for the package to find out later. I haven't given up yet. 

[Pylon80]

@Andreas W did the swing shafts end up too long on the XV-02? 😐

The WR-02 and TG10 both work great on TT-02's for some reason. The TG10 axles need 0.9mm of shiming compared to 0.7mm on the kit axles. I think you run them on the M-05 already so you probably knew that. You can place the shims inside or outside too so the added thickness can be your ally in making the car wider. 

As for the WR-02 universals they are indeed about a mm longer on the inboard side but I think they'll fit the XV-02 perfectly with the kit 37mm swing shafts since a lot of people actually switch to 39mm on that chassis. I have them on a TT-02 right now with 39mm swing shafts and they fit perfect with a stock diff; I remember now that a few years ago they did require the shiming to be on the outside to fit a yeah racing diff that was wider. No big deal but I should have mentioned it.

Snapped a picture of where it sits (on-road car, quite low):

And confirmed the 0.9mm stack of shims:

[OoALEJOoO]

@Andreas W An alternative could be to use Tamiya 51686 1.9" 26mm wheels which have a +6 offset. You could paint them to better suit a rally car.

[Rinskie]

On 12/7/2024 at 1:22 PM, Pylon80 said:

I didn't know this idiom, I'm laughing. I'll reuse it for sure. In a certain province of a certain country I used to live in, people used to say "rare as Pope's poo". I reckon rocking horse poo is more rare still 🧐

Being a native Texan sayings are elevated to high art. I like to combine two to make one. For example, when answering in the affirmative you might say "does the pope wear a funny hat?" or "does a bear poop in the woods?". I like to change it to "does the pope poop in the woods?" just to see how people respond. 

[Andreas W]

3 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

@Andreas W did the swing shafts end up too long on the XV-02? 😐

The WR-02 and TG10 both work great on TT-02's for some reason. The TG10 axles need 0.9mm of shiming compared to 0.7mm on the kit axles. I think you run them on the M-05 already so you probably knew that. You can place the shims inside or outside too so the added thickness can be your ally in making the car wider. 

As for the WR-02 universals they are indeed about a mm longer on the inboard side but I think they'll fit the XV-02 perfectly with the kit 37mm swing shafts since a lot of people actually switch to 39mm on that chassis. I have them on a TT-02 right now with 39mm swing shafts and they fit perfect with a stock diff; I remember now that a few years ago they did require the shiming to be on the outside to fit a yeah racing diff that was wider. No big deal but I should have mentioned it.

Snapped a picture of where it sits (on-road car, quite low):

And confirmed the 0.9mm stack of shims:

I have only tried the spare rear universals I took out of the winter XV-01. They go in fine, but with them I don't get full suspension travel, but the margins are hair fine. 

 

On the rear I think it will go just fine with the TG-10 axles and 39mm dogbones, if I change the inner bearings to 3mm thickness. 

 

On the front I think I  can use the OE 37mm swing shafts, given that the universals build further inwards. I have read that people use 38mm swingshafts on the front to make the axles engage deler into the cup. 

 

But we'll see when I get the parts. I will build both variants to see which one feels the best.

[Andreas W]

3 hours ago, OoALEJOoO said:

@Andreas W An alternative could be to use Tamiya 51686 1.9" 26mm wheels which have a +6 offset. You could paint them to better suit a rally car.

Hmm. With a bit imagination they actually look like the Fifteen52 Snowflakes I had on my Golf MK5.

 

But I now have almost all the 2mm offset Tamiya Rally dish wheels in the world, so that's the choice for the near future. 

[Re-Bugged]

14 hours ago, Andreas W said:

I found that out yesterday. First I tested the XV-01 universals and found out that the crosspin comes further out, as you say. I also saw that the 38mm driveshaft from the XV-01 would be too long,  but hope it would be better if I replace the inner bearing with a 3mm thick one (like we do on the XV-01).

 

Here is a comparason of the axles.  From L to R TG-10,  XV-01 and XV-02. 

I had a similar issue with my Street Scorcher when I ordered the same universals as on a TA02SW Porsche.

The cross pin hole was to far out but a 850 (think it was) brass bushing filled the gap perfectly and has worked fine since..

 

Worked well as gave a nice wide track that I was after anyway.

[njmlondon]

6 hours ago, Rinskie said:

Being a native Texan sayings are elevated to high art. I like to combine two to make one. For example, when answering in the affirmative you might say "does the pope wear a funny hat?" or "does a bear poop in the woods?". I like to change it to "does the pope poop in the woods?" just to see how people respond. 

When in Rome, make lemonade!

 

[Andreas W]

RC life is going great ATM. Inbetween the  before Christmas chores I managed to find time to test out the different swing shafts on the front and fit the dogbones and TG-10 axles rear. I ended up with 39 mm swing shafts front. There's no binding at any point and I have full stroke in both ends. The shafts are dry fitted, so I need to grease them,  glue the grub screw, fit an o-ring in the front and the cusions in the rear drivecups and shim both ends. On the rear I can still fit wheel spacers, if I use thinner, serrated nuts. 

 

All in all it's loads better than before and I am happy. Shopping list follows one of these days to finish off this thread.

[Carmine A]

On 12/9/2024 at 9:43 AM, Rinskie said:

Being a native Texan sayings are elevated to high art. I like to combine two to make one. For example, when answering in the affirmative you might say "does the pope wear a funny hat?" or "does a bear poop in the woods?". I like to change it to "does the pope poop in the woods?" just to see how people respond. 

"Well I'll be dipped in s(poop)t and hung for stanking!" 🤣 ..... I was born in Texas! Heard quite a few of those. 

@Andreas W NICE fitment!! 👌👍👍

[Andreas W]

The other thread about the bargain XV-02 RS Pro reminded me that I have forgot to write down which parts I used. So here goes:

 

2x 54610 9mm hex

50808 TG-10 axles

50883 39mm dogbones (for the rear)

54394 WR-02 universals for the front. Can also be used at the rear, if wanted. 

 

At the front maybe a bit too much with the 2mm offset rally dish under a Killerbody Lancia Delta,  but perfect for the Bittydesign Skoda Fabia that is planned for it. I went for dogbones at the rear, since my xar for the most run in dirty conditions.